Platinum-based drugs are among the most active and widely used anticancer agents and cisplatin represents one of the three FDA-approved, platinum-based cancer chemotherapeutics. Although cisplatin is effective against a number of solid tumors, especially testicular and ovarian cancer, its clinical use has been limited because of its toxic effects as well as the intrinsic and acquired resistance of some tumors to this drug.
To overcome these limitations, platinum analogs with lower toxicity and greater activity in cisplatin-resistant tumors have been developed and tested, resulting in the approval of carboplatin and oxaliplatin in the United States. For example, carboplatin has the advantage of being less nephrotoxic, but its cross-resistance with cisplatin has limited its application in otherwise cisplatin-treatable diseases.
Oxaliplatin, however, exhibits a different anticancer spectrum from that of cisplatin. It has been approved as the first or second line therapy in combination with 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin for advanced colorectal cancer, for which cisplatin and carboplatin are essentially inactive. These platinum drugs have platinum in the 2+ oxidative state (Pt(II)) and are not orally active.
Platinum complexes in the 4+ oxidative state (Pt(IV) complexes) provide several advantages. The two additional coordination sites (the axial sites) can be modified to change the pharmacokinetic properties of the complexes. For example, the two axial sites, as well as the four equatorial sites, can include ligands that have polar moieties. Not wishing to be bound by any theory, the polarity increase of the Pt(IV) complexes of the present teachings may increase the Pt concentration in tumor cells. In certain instances, Pt(IV) complexes of the present teachings can be orally active and/or have a reduced long-term toxicity.